Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf, (November 20, 1858 - March 16, 1940) was a Swedish author, known internationally for Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige (a story for children), and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1909 "in appreciation of the lofty idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual perception that characterize her writings." Most of her stories were set in Värmland.